What your charity needs to know about cyber risk and insurance

23 April 2018

Risks from cyber attacks and mistakes are now a key focus for charities, and insurance can help

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Over the past 12 months cyber risk has been a key focus for charities – not least because of all the work under way to ensure organisations are compliant with the incoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In the 2018 Institute of Risk Management’s Charities SIG ‘Top Risks Survey’, cyber shot up from outside the top 10 risks in 2017 to the number one risk for 2018. And when asked "What risks will still be with you in 2021?", respondents again voted cyber risk as number one.

What are the types of risk that your charity might face?

The key risk areas include external threats of a deliberate nature, such as hackers, or internal threats of a deliberate nature, such as disgruntled employees. There might also be risks of an accidental nature, such as employees and volunteers losing unencrypted electronic devices or being duped into disclosing confidential information through phishing.

How could you be affected?

Below are just some of the ways that cyber security breaches can cause problems for organisations:

Having to pay costs or fines where your organisation breaches a third party’s privacy rights

Losing out on sales or donations when a hacker takes down your website